INDIANAPOLIS — As Bella Montefalco and Cassie Kroenberger dueled — for 2 hours and 15 minutes they went at it — Cathedral coaches were picking out teaching points. Montefalco scooped low and hit a high arching volley that she should have watched bounce to her partner. “Ooph,” one exclaimed. “Don’t go for those.”

Instead, the freshman hit it and cost what would have been match point. So they kept playing, learning. This was only the fifth time she and Kroenberger, a sophomore, had played together.

So when they finally capped a 7-6, 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles, and thereby a 4-1 team win for No. 2 Cathedral over No. 5 North Central, there was a sigh of relief.

“We’ve been juggling the doubles because we haven’t had a solid depth,” said Cathedral coach Mark Noe. “It’s a big moral victory for us … This is their fifth time playing together, so it’s really good for us.”

Fifth time? That’s not very common for a perennial power like the Irish, the reigning state champs. Noe said they’ve usually prided themselves in having great doubles teams — and they got a little better Thursday — but they’re in a rebuild right now.

Montefalco and Kroenberger, who also are teammates on the volleyball team, could stick together and become a doubles force down the road. But right now, they don’t have to be. Because as the Irish coaches search for the right duos, they already have rock-solid singles.

At No. 1 singles they have Maeve Koscielski, who won 6-2, 6-2 Thursday. No. 2 is Meg Coleman, who won each set 6-0. At No. 3, it’s Claire Koscielski, who only gave up one game.

“It was nice to watch the three singles win, but we wanted to win, too,” Montefalco said. “We wanted to hold the team up. That way, the singles players know if they ever have to drop one, we’ll be there.”

The Irish are a combined 46-2 at singles, so that’s not something that happens often. And while Montefalco and Kroenberger were happy to provide some doubles support, the No. 1 duo of K.K. Combs and Cole Spau weren’t so fortunate.

They ran into North Central’s Autumn Clark and Susan Blederstadt, juniors who went through a learning curve of their own this season. Clark is a reigning state champ at doubles, and thinks she can do it again this year with Blederstadt, who teamed up with her after they both moved over from singles early in the season.

Clark was watching that last drawn-out match, too. Not because she needed to learn anything, but because on the other side of two underclassmen finding their stride was a pair of seniors playing their final match.

She was never emotional until that two-hour duel ended. Then the tears came.

At Ben Davis: Ben Davis beat Northwest 5-0, and Cardinal Ritter beat Crispus Attucks 5-0. The Giants will be looking for their third consecutive title while the Raiders will playing for their first since 2014.